COAI kept out of Trai meeting on RJio request: Mathews

Representatives of industry body COAI were kept out of the meeting of telecom operators with Trai over the controversial issue of network interconnection at the insistence of Reliance Jio, a top official of the association claimed today.

COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews in a statement said the body was "kept out of the Trai meeting at the insistence of Reliance Jio and Trai acquiesced to their demand, in an unprecedented manner."

A Reliance Jio Infocomm board member, who was present in the meeting, refuted the allegation, saying they did not make any such request, adding, whosoever is invited should attend.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had called a meeting with telecom operators to resolve the ongoing dispute involving Reliance Jio and incumbent telecom operators, like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, over interconnecting points.

The Cellular Operators Association of India yesterday, wrote to Trai that the meeting scheduled for Friday, where in Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have been called for discussing the issue, pertains to all members and not just the three telcos.

"Therefore we request Trai to invite all members of COAI for the said meeting," COAI letter to Trai said. COAI in August accused Trai of biasness, but later apologised for levelling such allegations.

Reliance Jio, which commercially launched its services on September 5, had earlier accused incumbent players for not releasing sufficient interconnection ports and had sought legal action against them.

COAI has been confronting Reliance Jio representing views of incumbent telecom operators, saying that is the view of majority in the association. Reliance Jio is also member of COAI, but has been sidelined by leading telecom operators in the association.